THE WAY OF THE WEASEL

The bad guy who attacks is the one who acts. The good guy who is the intended victim is the one who has to react. Action beats reaction. It's pretty obvious where this is going. Suffice to say the quick draw has always been part and parcel of defensive handgun training. Let's look at "how quick is quick."

Before the draw begins, we have to consider reaction time. Figure on about a quarter second, if the stimulus to draw is already anticipated, and you're ready to react. Only then can the actual drawand- fire process begin. It breaks down into two parts: access and presentation. Access is the process of (a) getting the hand to the gun, (b) taking a drawing grasp thereon, and perhaps also (c) releasing safety straps or other holster security devices. The (a) part includes getting the hand under the concealing wardrobe to begin with.

Presentation comes next, and that's the easy part. "Access" is a complex psychomotor skill — a chain of events in which each link in the chain must work — and it requires time and dexterity. "Presentation," on the other hand, is a simple gross motor skill – just rip the gun out of the holster and get it on target. At this point, a shot may or may not have to be fired: remember, most armed encounters end without the Good Guys having to shed anyone's blood.

So, it becomes pretty clear that if we can somehow get that tough "access" part out of the way and proceed directly to the easier "presentation" part, we've cut our draw-to-the-shot time in half. With some of the more deeply buried methods of carry, we can cut it by more than half. ..... (Note: To clear an ad that appears - select the "X" or scroll down and click on below text)